If you are one of the millions of men who turned to Hims & Hers for a discreet fix to hair thinning, performance anxiety, or weight management, you relied on their promise of a “100% online, private, and secure” experience.
Turns out, the federal government says that promise was a lie.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) backed by regulators in California and Utah officially filed a federal lawsuit against telehealth giant Hims & Hers Health, Inc. The complaint accuses the digital healthcare brand of secretly feeding sensitive medical data directly into social media ad algorithms.
What the FTC Says Went Down
According to the federal complaint, the privacy guarantees pitched on the site did not match what was happening behind the scenes:
Tracking Pixels on Health Forms: Hims embedded web tracking code (like Meta Pixels) on its platform, allowing ad networks—including Meta, Snap, Google, and Reddit—to capture user activity and intake data.
Targeted Ad Audiences: The FTC alleges the platform shared customer lists with third-party ad platforms to build hyper-targeted lookalike audiences for marketing.
Sneaky Upfront Charges: Regulators accuse Hims of charging consumers for prescription orders almost immediately after an intake form was filled out, well before any doctor actually reviewed the file.
Cancellation Dark Patterns: The lawsuit highlights deceptive site designs that hid cancellation buttons behind multi-step menus, forcing users into recurring monthly charges.
The Business Pushback
Hims & Hers shares dropped roughly 15% immediately following the announcement, but the company released a statement firing back at federal regulators.
Company representatives called the lawsuit “baseless” and argued that the FTC ignored three years of submitted evidence. Hims maintains that patient-doctor communications are strictly isolated from marketing activities and accused regulators of trying to “generate headlines at our expense”.
What This Means for You
If a direct-to-consumer health app relies on high-octane social ad growth, your user journey is likely tied to its marketing machine.
While Hims & Hers fights the federal claims in court, this case serves as an aggressive reminder for modern consumers. Before filling out digital health questionnaires, lock down your browser privacy settings, use ad-blocking tools, and closely check auto-renewal terms.
